Overcast skies and intermittent rain failed to dampen the spirit of hundreds of visitors to the Putnam County Veterans Memorial Park in Kent Thursday night which took on a look of Italy for the Inaugural Feast of San Gennaro. The four-day event was highlighted by a Statue Procession of San Gennaro.

Festival Grand Marshal Giulio Cefaloni said the statue originated in Naples, Italy, and made its way to New York in 1926, where it was carried through the streets of Lower Manhattan, known as Little Italy. “With the assistance of Father Quarato, Father Peter Pomposello and Bill Russo, the San Gennaro Committee was able to secure the statue for the feast on loan from the Most Precious Blood Church.”